Abstract
Recent research has made significant progress for the plasma confinement in helical systems. Experiments have been carried out in W7AS, CHS, ATF, H-E and others. The plasmas, whose electron temperature is around 2-3 keV, ion temperature is 1 keV and density is 2-3x10{sup 20}m{sup -3}, are well confined with the energy confinement time {tau}{sub E}=10-40 ms and the stable beta value reaches at 2% ({beta}(0)=7%). The obtained scalings for the global energy confinement time such as LHD, GRB(Gyro-Reduced Bohm), L-G(Lackner-Gottardi) scalings are comparable with the tokamak L-mode scaling in the above parameters` range. The improved confinement modes are also explored in helical systems as H mode or the control of plasma profile. In this paper, firstly presented experimental results are reviewed on the confinement, MHD equilibrium/stability beta limit, and secondly the outline of LHD and W7X program is described. Finally, a discussion is given on the feasibility of helical systems as a fusion reactor, based on the present experimental results. 21 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.
Published Version
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